Any hikers, climbers, or wanderers here? Where’s the most exotic place you’ve had a glass of whiskey?
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Unrelated: if anyone knows why my image uploads keep turning up sideways let me know.
I believe you had fallen over at the time the pic was taken.
j/k, has something to do with camera autorotation in phones, I think.
Where’s the most exotic place you’ve had a glass of whiskey?
- in La Suverana, one of Julius II’s villas. Had my first experience of grappa there, too, shared by a workman on the premises. He also shared a tosca, a rustic dry cigar like Clint Eastwood smoked in the movies. Both were a little rough but I was grateful for the hospitality. It gave me a tiny window into his culture (the workman, not the pope).
- The little terrace atop the Duomo after a long climb <–nip from a flask, not a glass.
The morning of the duomo climb I’d stood in freezing weather with some old men around a pushcart next to the Baptristry. We ate trippa sandwiches and drank warmed red for breakfast. Also had my first Cuban cigar that day, an R&J Churchill tubo from a local tobacconist.
I was dirt poor at the time (bedroll-and-hostel traveler) but got adopted by a group who was touring on the Italian tourism board’s dime. Best food and drink of my life, and cost me nothing (I paid for the pushcart trippa mentioned above since I was solo on that part of the mission). Also roamed the Vatican complex with the former manservant of John XXIII, IIRC. The Swiss Guards were not amused, and I was surprised to see they carried HK MP5 in private rather than halberds…
Great stories! I once stepped out of a restroom in narrow hallway somewhere in the Vatican just in time to collide with a cardinal in Bennedict’s procession. The Guards had me spun around and pushed out of the way before I really even processed what had happened. I’ve only been to Italy the one time but the while trip was filled with incredible little moments like that.
‘Exotic’ to me is the Suntory Hakushu distillery in Japan. It was a simply gorgeous day for a tour in the mountains.
Exciting! Does Japan have an equivalent to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail or is it more spread out? There are several Japanese distilleries I wouldn’t mind visiting.
Not that I’m aware of. It was a bit of a trek to get to it from where I was in Tokyo metro area (hour+ train ride and a taxi ride). The bigger ones are definitely spread out a bit. You might be able to find a group of small ones, but I honestly haven’t looked. I only had a few days to spare at I was there for work.
Pictured: my friends place in the Rocky Mountains. Most exotic: probably a sundowner on wildlife safari in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
